Mao Zedong

QUESTION: How did Mao Zedong differ from Marx, the origin of his theory?

Biographical Information: (YKK)
- Born in Chaochan, China in 1893.
- He was the son of a peasant farmer.
- Became a Marxist while working in the Peking University as a library assistant.
- He was inspired by the Russian Revolution.
- Served in the revolutionary army during the 1911 Chinese Revolution.
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Ideological Foundation: (Ho Joon)
Maoism: official name of his ideas

Derived from Marxism
People’s War: Saw hierarchy as unfair and a method of exploiting the poor. Thus, he sought to destroy the system, especially the people above it.
- A revolutionary struggle
- Involved mainly peasants, and were in forms of guerilla war/ attacks.

Difference with Marxism
- Marxism focused on industrial urban forces, Maoism on the agrarian countryside; agrarian socialism

Divided the world into three divisions
- "In my view, the United States and the Soviet Union belong to the first world. The in-between Japan, Europe and Canada belong to the second world. The third world is very populous. Except Japan, Asia belongs to the third world. So does the whole of Africa and Latin America"
- This also had an impact in leading him to ally with the weaker forces of the same goals in order to defeat its opponents, which definitely included Japan.

Mao Zedong on class difference (Ho Joon): Mao Zedong primary source

Sources:
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mao.htm
"Maoism." Main Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://www.fact-index.com/m/ma/maoism.html>.
"Mao Zedong." www.kirjasto.sci.fi . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mao.htm>.

Who Opposed Them: (Min)